The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
“She scowled at her glass of orange juice.” Robin McKinley is not one of those writers I ever read when I was younger, so I don’t have any in-born fondness for her. Which is perfectly fine because from the outset of this novel, I really enjoyed it. It’s a fantasy novel that begins in a far flung post on the edge of a kingdom. Our protagonist, Harry, has been sent to the post to live with her brother after her parents have died. She’s to […]
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
I’ve read and liked Robin McKinley, but somehow I managed to miss this one. Then a bunch of Cannonballers were commenting on another McKinley review that Sunshine was the best vampire book they’d ever read. When I found it at a library book sale, I was super psyched, and I was not disappointed. Rae Seddon (get it? Rae of Sunshine?) is a baker at a coffee shop. (So many descriptions of baked goods in this book. Drool.) Her stepfather owns the coffee shop, her mother […]
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Harry Crewe is a young girl with a peculiar sense of placelessness. After she is orphaned, she comes out to the colony of Daria to be with her brother. Here, she finds her destiny – or perhaps her destiny finds her – when she is abducted by Corlath, king of the Hillfolk of Damar. This is probably the most accessible of McKinley’s work, but her lush prose shines throughout, and there is a real sense of old-fashioned adventure as Harry is swept away into a […]
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
In Damar once there was a princess called Aerin who was pitifully out of place, for she was the daughter of a woman who had long been branded a witch. With a vague sense that her destiny lay elsewhere compared to where a princess’s destiny generally lies, she set out to become the best dragon slayer the realm had seen, no matter that killing dragons was a thankless and ignoble task. But it turns out her destiny was far greater than that. I remember I […]
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Shortly before Halloween, I was struck by the desire to read vampire books. I don’t think I had read any for years (although I have read many of the ‘classics’ including Dracula (obviously), Interview with a Vampire, Salem’s Lot, etc.), so I wanted a ‘fresh’ approach when I was searching. I was limited by what was available to download from our library, but ended up scratching this particular itch quite satisfactorily. Sunshine came several weeks after Halloween and I had completely forgotten why it attracted […]
Welcome to our Fairy tale Adaptations book club! This go round we’ve selected four books that showed their author’s take on various fairy tales and folktales. Each of our books below have their own Discussion Posts and don’t forget, we’ll be having our Zoom Book Club on Saturday September 18 at 7 pm EDT. Other Discussions The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden Deerskin by Robin McKinley Sea Witch by Sarah Henning Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson For those of you returning […]
